Methods of product mixing or reconstitution are known in the art, wherein liquid concentrates are mixed with a diluent by means of an aspirator containing a venturi. In this method, the venturi draws liquid concentrate into contact with the diluent stream, thereby mixing concentrate and diluent together. In such a method, any number of concentrates may be envisaged.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,327 discloses a solution storage and dispensing apparatus for forming solutions in a plurality of storage containers using a single dispenser to selectively direct a first liquid, such as water, to each of the storage containers for forming solutions therein.
An aspirator located in each of the storage containers draws a second liquid, such as a concentrate, into the storage container in response to the flow of the first liquid through the aspirator to provide a controlled concentration of solution in the container.
The method employed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,327 is limited to the reconstitution of liquid products. Such a method is further limited in that concentrates must have a inherently high solubility in the diluent used.
Filling machines may dispense a wide variety of products from the same machine. Such machines may include production line filling machines and vending systems which are designed to fill containers at sites located in, for example, retail outlets, offices and other workplaces.
By “vending system” in the present invention, is meant a filling machine that dispenses product in response to one or more selections that are input into the machine by the user. Such a system may be operated by coin, token, card or other suitable means.
In a situation where multiple vends of a variety of concentrate combinations are required from the same machine, the potential for contamination is increased.
Typically, the design of filling machines, such as vending machines, avoids the contamination issue by isolating the concentrates and filling them directly into the container prior to adding the diluent. This method is effective in avoiding contamination but does not allow the effective mixing and reconstitution of the concentrate.
The mixing of concentrates with diluents and/or the addition of customised combinations of concentrates adds complexity and the potential for contamination in filling machines.
The alternative method of dispensing concentrates into the container and adding the diluent does not provide a consistently well mixed product and limits the range of concentrate formulations possible by such a method to those formulations that have an inherently high solubility.
The limitations imposed by the current state of the art are such that it is difficult to implement a filling machine, in particular a vending machine, that can give the user the guarantee of a well-reconstituted product.
In addition, the mixing and reconstitution of the product components is limited by the ability of the method to handle disparate product types, and the formulation is usually limited to one physical type at the exclusion of others, for example, liquid, powder or paste.
Furthermore, maintaining the quality of product reconstitution with any permutation of the amount or physical characteristics of constituents is difficult to achieve.